Roquan Smith: Taunting penalty on Marsh was 'BS call' originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
After a lackluster first half, the Bears finally had some momentum cooking late on Monday Night Football against the Steelers. They had scored a special teams touchdown to pull within three points, and the defense was playing better to hold Ben Roethlisberger and give the offense another chance. Then on 3rd-and-8 from their own 48-yard line, the defense came up with their biggest play of the game: a huge sack from recent addition Cassius Marsh to put the Steelers in a 4th-and-15.
Marsh stared down the Steelers bench, but didn’t say anything. A flag was thrown. Taunting. First down Steelers.
After the game, Bears players were not happy.
“That was a BS call,” Smith said. “The man’s been doing that celebration his entire career, and for that to be called一 but hey, it is what it is.”
Marsh confirmed after the game it’s a celebration he’s done his whole career, and said he’s never been flagged for it before.
“It sucks,” said Smith. “It’s just about going to the next play and we just have to eliminate those self-inflicted wounds like this. It’s never good.”
The flag helped Pittsburgh get into field goal range, and put another three points on the board. The Bears ended up losing by two. Despite that, Smith wouldn’t go as far as saying the penalty single-handedly gave the Bears the L.
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“That’s not the play that lost us the game by any means,” Smith said.
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